But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Philippians 3:7-11

It is well, therefore, that he who has learned the judgments of the Lord, as many as have been written, should walk in them. For he who keeps these shall be glorified in the kingdom of God; but he who chooses other things shall be destroyed with his works. On this account there will be a resurrection, on this account a retribution. Barnabas (A.D. 70-130) ch.20

And then shall appear the signs of the truth: first, the sign of an outspreading in heaven, then the sign of the sound of the trumpet. And third, the resurrection of the dead - yet not of all, but as it is said: "The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him." Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven. Didache (A.D. 80-140) ch.16

Let us understand, dearly beloved, how the Master continually shows unto us the resurrection that shall be hereafter; whereof He made the Lord Jesus Christ the first fruit, when He raised Him from the dead. Let us behold, dearly beloved, the resurrection which happens at its proper season. Day and night show unto us the resurrection. The night falls asleep, and day arises; the day departs, and night comes on. Let us mark the fruits, how and in what manner the sowing takes place. The sower goes forth and casts into the earth each of the seeds; and these falling into the earth dry and bare decay: then out of their decay the mightiness of the Master's providence raises them up, and from being one they increase manifold and bear fruit. Clement of Rome (A.D. 96) ch. 24

Do we then think it to be a great and marvelous thing, if the Creator of the universe shall bring about the resurrection of them that have served Him with holiness in the assurance of a good faith, seeing that He shows to us even by a bird the magnificence of His promise? For He said in a certain place; And You shall raise me up, and I will praise You; and I went to rest and slept, I was awaked, for You are with me. And again Job said; And You shall raise this my flesh which has endured all these things. Clement of Rome (A.D. 96) ch. 26

And let not any one of you say that this flesh is not judged neither rises again. Understand you. In what were you saved? In what did you recover your sight? if you were not in this flesh. We ought therefore to guard the flesh as a temple of God: for in like manner as you were called in the flesh, you shall come also in the flesh. If Christ the Lord who saved us, being first spirit, then became flesh, and so called us, in like manner also shall we in this flesh receive our reward. Second Clement (A.D. 100) ch. 9

Now He that raised Him from the dead will raise us also; if we do His will and walk in His commandments and love the things which He loved, abstaining from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, false witness; not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing or blow for blow or cursing for cursing; Polycarp (A.D. 69-156) ch. 2

They who maintain the wrong opinion say that there is no resurrection of the flesh; giving as their reason that it is impossible that what is corrupted and dissolved should be restored to the same as it had been. And besides the impossibility, they say that the salvation of the flesh is disadvantageous; and they abuse the flesh, adducing its infirmities, and declare that it only is the cause of our sins, so that if the flesh, say they, rise again, our infirmities also rise with it. Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg. 294

"That the blind should receive sight, and the deaf hear," …For if on earth He healed the sicknesses of the flesh, and made the body whole, much more will He do this in the resurrection, so that the flesh shall rise perfect and entire. In this manner, then, shall those dreaded difficulties of theirs be healed. Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg. 295

And shall not God be able to collect again the decomposed members of the flesh, and make the same body as was formerly produced by Him? Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg. 297

And if the resurrection of the flesh is not found impossible on the principles even of unbelievers, how much more will it be found in accordance with the mind of believers! Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg. 297

If the resurrection were only spiritual, it was requisite that He, in raising the dead, should show the body lying apart by itself, and the soul living apart by itself. But now He did not do so, but raised the body, confirming in it the promise of life. Why did He rise in the flesh in which He suffered, unless to show the resurrection of the flesh? Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg. 298

And when He had thus shown them that there is truly a resurrection of the flesh, wishing to show them this also, that it is not impossible for flesh to ascend into heaven (as He had said that our dwelling-place is in heaven), "He was taken up into heaven while they beheld," as He was in the flesh. Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg.298

The resurrection is a resurrection of the flesh which died. For the spirit dies not; the soul is in the body, and without a soul it cannot live. The body, when the soul forsakes it, is not. For the body is the house of the soul; and the soul the house of the spirit. These three, in all those who cherish a sincere hope and unquestioning faith in God, will be saved. Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg. 298

In the same way, having been born, and through death existing no longer, and seen no longer, I shall exist again, just as before I was not, but was afterwards born. Even though fire destroy all traces of my flesh, the world receives the vaporized matter; and though dispersed through rivers and seas, or torn in pieces by wild beasts, I am laid up in the storehouses of a wealthy Lord. Tatian (A.D.160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2 pg.67

The result of all this is very plain to every one - namely, that, in the language of the apostle, "this corruptible (and dissoluble) must put on incorruption," in order that those who were dead, having been made alive by the resurrection, and the parts that were separated and entirely dissolved having been again united, each one may, in accordance with justice, receive what he has done by the body, whether it be good or bad. Athenagorus (A.D. 137) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2 pg.159

After its thousand years are over, within which period is completed the resurrection of the saints, who rise sooner or later according to their deserts there will ensue the destruction of the world and the conflagration of all things at the judgment: we shall then be changed in a moment into the substance of angels, even by the investiture of an incorruptible nature, and so be removed to that kingdom in heaven. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg. 343

When, then, we read, "Go, my people, enter into your closets for a little season, until my anger pass away," we have in the closets graves, in which they will have to rest for a little while, who shall have at the end of the world departed this life in the last furious onset of the power of Antichrist. Why else did He use the expression closets, in preference to some other receptacle, if it were not that the flesh is kept in these closets or cellars salted and reserved for use, to be drawn out thence on a suitable occasion? …it appears that by the very phrase which he uses, "Until His anger pass away," which shall extinguish Antichrist, he in fact shows that after that indignation the flesh will come forth from the sepulcher, in which it had been deposited previous to the bursting out of the anger. Now out of the closets nothing else is brought than that which had been put into them, and after the extirpation of Antichrist shall be busily transacted the great process of the resurrection. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg. 565

SEE ALSO: MILLENNIUM, DEAD

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